Exploring consumer exposure pathways and patterns of use for chemicals in the environment

Abstract

Humans are exposed to thousands of chemicals in the workplace, home, and via air, water, food, and soil. A major challenge in estimating chemical exposures is to understand which chemicals are present in these media and microenvironments. Here we describe the Chemical/Product Categories Database (CPCat), a new, publically available (http://actor.epa.gov/cpcat) database of information on chemicals mapped to "use categories" describing the usage or function of the chemical. CPCat was created by combining multiple and diverse sources of data on consumer- and industrial-process based chemical uses from regulatory agencies, manufacturers, and retailers in various countries. The database uses a controlled vocabulary of 833 terms and a novel nomenclature to capture and streamline descriptors of chemical use for 43,596 chemicals from the various sources. Examples of potential applications of CPCat are provided, including identifying chemicals to which children may be exposed and to support prioritization of chemicals for toxicity screening. CPCat is expected to be a valuable resource for regulators, risk assessors, and exposure scientists to identify potential sources of human exposures and exposure pathways, particularly for use in high-throughput chemical exposure assessment.

Keywords: ACToR, Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource; AICS, Australian Inventory of Chemical Substances; CAS RN, Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number; CDR, Chemical Data Reporting Rule; CPCat, Chemical/Product Categories Database; Chemical exposure; DCPS, Danish Consumer Product Survey; DfE, Design for the Environment; EDSP, Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program; EPA, Environmental Protection Agency; EWG, Environmental Working Group; Exposure prioritization; GRAS, Generally Recognized as Safe; HTP, Human Toxome Project; High throughput; Human exposure; IUR, Inventory Update Reporting Modifications Rule; MSDS, Material Safety Data Sheets; NICNAS, National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme; RPC, Retail Product Categories Database; SDWA, Safe Drinking Water Act; SPIN, Substances in Preparation in Nordic Countries; TSCA, Toxic Substances Control Act; Use category.

Fig. 1

CPCat database organization.

Fig. 2

Heat map of chemicals associated with CPCat cassettes from the child scenario. Individual chemicals are on the x-axis, and CPCat cassettes (i.e. use-category classifications) on the y-axis. There are a total of 1074 chemicals associated with at least one child scenario CPCat cassette.